I'll usually reset my game over and over to get a female starter for breeding purposes. Outside of that gender doesn't make a huge difference to me, unless I have a particular nickname in mind (and there's quite a few for me ). Most commonly I'll name a Growlithe/ Arcanine "Lassie," so I'll go out of my way to find a female. One of the reasons I love Shinx and its evolutions is it's a decent Pokemon and I don't need to be picky about gender- Simba and Nala are both fine nicknames.